May 2005 - Two Australians moved to Tuscany where they planned to live for two years. Two weeks later their dogs, Snowy and Dermott, arrived. Seven years and a property purchase later, they're still here.

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

At the beginning of December Jeanette Jobson who blogs on Illustrated Lifestarted testing various media on a new ground called Terraskin which is made from a crushed mineral powder held together with a non-toxic resin - effectively paper out of stone. Since Jeanette only has one tube of gouache I volunteerd to test the Terraskin as a ground for gouache.

We woke to snow this morning so I dashed out to the garden to take some photos and used one as a reference for the little painting above. The 'paper' has a beautiful soft, smooth, almost velvety surface and is quite heavy. It cuts beautifully but wouldn't tear easily. I noticed in the tests I did on a scrap that it is quite easy to lift highlights from painted areas but one has to be careful because the paint takes longer to dry than on watercolour paper and colours will run into semi dry areas. The gouache dries to a lovely smooth bright finish on this paper. I imagine it would be great for reproduction.

I'm trying very hard not to fall in love with Terraskin because I don't imagine I'm going to find it in Italy in the near future. Many, many thanks, Jeanette for your generosity in sharing some samples.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

If you visit on Sunday night you are probably going to be offered leftovers. That's what this post is ... leftovers from a few days of experimenting.

That's a new Clairefontaine sketchbook above - I like the colour but it is very thin and the paint is inclined to collect on the ridges of the paper.

Another experiment - Pigma Micron 005 pen with watercolour wash on rough CP paper. It's a corner of my favourite Piazza in Florence, where I'm going to stay next weekend. So you could call this one Practice.

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About Me

Every time the Australian Labor Party lost an election, my husband threatened to leave the country. In 2005, he made good his threat. Luckily, at the same time, I had decided I wanted a life instead of a career. That's how we came to live in Italy. Our two dogs, Dermott and Snowy, caring not a jot for either politics or career, only for their dinner, followed two weeks later.